Pleasantly surprised to see most of the regular dealers there; I
expected a lot of them to be gone thanks to the Carl Amari
lawsuit-threat blitz. Karen and Alice spent a ton of money (Karen loves
Jack Benny; Alice bought Burns & Allen stuff).

Karen was so excited about meeting guest actor Tyler McVey that she was
shaking. Tyler had appeared on the JACK BENNY SHOW!!! And she couldn't
wait to hear his impressions of Jack.

Auditions for amateur talent were at 4:00. Karen and I auditioned, and
we were lucky enough (well, I was lucky; she actually has talent) to get
parts in two of the three shows. I was the announcer on X-1 and the
murder victim on Mr & Mrs North; Karen was a wife in X-1 and a teenager
with a complexion problem in a Woodbury soap commercial in Mr & Mrs
North.

Near the end of the audition, Tyler McVey came in and Karen swooned.
She got up the nerve to speak to him, and she asked him what Jack Benny
was like. Tyler told her Jack was great. What parts did you play, she
asked. I don't remember, he said--one of them was with Marilyn Monroe,
but he didn't remember much else about it. After all, he said, when
you've been in over 350 shows they tend to run together....

Tyler and his wife Esther were wonderful, very friendly and eager to
talk with anyone who wanted to talk to them. Cincinnati is like that--a
big, happy family where stars and fans intermix as equals for a weekend.

The Friday night program began with an Ethel and Albert (Peg Lynch and
Bob Hastings), then the feature program was Frontier Gentleman, with
Tyler McVey, Esther (McVey) Geddes, and Rosemary Rice. A fine show, and
over too quickly.

The Boogie Woogie girls didn't make it this year, because the mother
(sorry, don't know the names--she used a cane at last year's show) had a
(benign) tumor removed from her hip. Her side was partially paralyzed
because of the tumor, but word is that she's recovering nicely--even
dancing a bit--and may be back next year.

Saturday was quite full for Karen and me--first was rehearsal for X-1,
then the performance, then rehearsal for Mr & Mrs North, then the
performance. Bob Hastings got a bit naughty in the rehearsal; too bad
the crowd doesn't get to see what goes on....

Before the afternoon show (X-1), director Don Ramlow announced that the
crowd was so big that there would be two performances. (The room seats
about a hundred people). The McVeys led off each show with a very funny
short satire on Dragnet full of alliteration, "The crook copped the
clapper from the closet"--all hard "C's." Quite a tongue twister, and
they pulled it off excellently. (Incidentally, I gave them a
replacement kicker line, and they used it!) (For those of you there, I
suggested they replace "I'd clobber him" with "I'd clean his clock.")

Then the McVeys did a Bickersons episode ("He wasn't knighted, he was
INDICTED!"), and then the X-1 show was perforned. It was a Ray Bradbury
show, Marionettes, Inc, very cleverly written with a surprise ending
right out of the Twilight Zone. As announcer, I opened and closed the
show, with nothing to do in the middle but enjoy the performances.

After the show, the audience exited and a new audience came in, and we
did the whole thing again.

Since the show took twice as long as anticipated (two performances),
there was very little time after the show until the rehearsal for the
evening show. No matter, this is show biz and we're in the Big Time
now!

The night program began with another Ethel and Albert, then Mr. and Mrs.
North. I played Christopher Columbus, and I was killed off on page six
of the script.

After the program there was a lot of mingling in the hotel's
restaurant/bar. When I left Ed Clute was still holding court, and when
I got up Sunday morning he was there again. (Don't think he stayed all
night, but who knows). Lots of goodbyes, and the crowd went its
separate ways.

My family agrees that the Cincinnati convention is the high point of our
year. It passed Christmas and birthdays long ago. Let me extend a
heartfelt thanks to everyone responsible for this marvelous
get-together.